OCEAN CITY — Ocean City’s Roland E. Powell Convention Center turns 50 this year and the town is celebrating the birthday with a special event on New Year’s Day.
The original Ocean City Convention Center was completed in 1970. On New Year’s Day, as part of the larger celebration of the arrival of the new year, resort officials are welcoming residents and visitors to share in the birthday celebration with a special concert and open house.
For years, Ocean City’s mayor’s have hosted an open house on New Year’s Day. The open house was traditionally held at City Hall and included meet-and-greets with city officials and displays of Ocean City’s history. In recent years, the annual New Year’s Day open house has been moved to the much larger convention center. Next Wednesday, the annual event will take on an even greater significance with the celebration of the convention center’s 50th anniversary.
“Under the mayor’s advice, we’ve changed with event from the typical 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. so it won’t conflict with the penguin swim,” said Convention Center Director Larry Noccolino. “From 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., we’re going to have a 65-inch television in the lobby with a slide show of pictures of how the convention center began, where it is today and where it’s headed in the future. It will be kind of an open house, so people can walk around the convention center and check out all of the great things it has to offer.”
At 4:30 p.m. on New Year’s Day, the annual concert will be held in the performing arts center featuring local musician Bryan Russo as host and the tribute band Beatlegacy as the main event. Throughout the evening, special events and activities will focus on the history of the convention center and its many expansions over the last 50 years.
The original Ocean City Convention Center was built in 1970 with 40,000 square feet of exhibit space on two levels with seven meeting rooms and breakout rooms and other areas. Longtime residents and visitors will likely recall the long ramp extending from the front of the building.
In 1990, a market and economic impact study found the facility captured a significant amount of convention activity within the state and throughout the mid-Atlantic region. The study recommended the facility be renovated and expanded to 80,000 square feet of exhibit space along with 30,000 square feet of meeting space and 20,000 to 25,000 square feet of ballroom or swing space.
To that end, the convention center was expanded in 1997 and renamed the Roland E. Powell Convention Center, although not to the extent the study seven years earlier recommended. The convention center has been expanded since, including a roughly 19,000-square-foot ballroom in 2012 and the new 1,200-seat performing arts center, which opened in late 2014. The expansions increased the total exhibit space to around 60,000 square feet.
Sometime in April, ground will be broken on the convention center’s latest expansion. The expansion was approved after a feasibility study commissioned by the town revealed there was a demand for increased convention and trade show space in the state and throughout the mid-Atlantic region and Ocean City’s Convention Center should be expanded to remain competitive.
Last spring, the Maryland General Assembly approved the state’s share of funding for the third phase of the convention center expansion. The Town of Ocean City partners with the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) on the convention center and the bill passed by the state legislature authorizes the MSA to issue up to $24.5 million in bonds to help pay for the third phase of the expansion.
The total cost of the project is $34 million, of which the state is requested to fund 60 percent, or $20.4 million. The town’s share would be 40 percent, or roughly $13.6 million, which would be funded by the one cent added to the food tax in Ocean City. Several years ago, state lawmakers allowed one cent to be added to the food tax in Ocean City which is earmarked for convention center expansions.
The expansion will add 30,000 square-feet of exhibit space on the north side of the facility that would tie into the existing Exhibit Halls A and B. The expanded space could be used alone for a single event, or opened up with the other adjacent exhibit halls to create a larger space.
The bill passed last spring changed the funding formula for the convention center expansion from a 50-50 split between the state and the city to a 60% share for the state and a 40% share for the city.
Fifty years later, the Roland E. Powell Convention Center remains a vibrant centerpiece of activity in the resort with the space filled all year long with conventions, trade shows, sports tournament’s and all manner of events. While it is a vital part of Ocean City all year, it is especially important in the shoulder seasons and in winter.
“It’s an important economic engine for the town,” said Noccolino. “Especially from say October to April when it really helps keep the town going during the offseason with events practically every week.”
